We are pleased to have Gloria Leven working with the Young Historians. Gloria was seven years old in 1930 and she has been sharing her memories of her childhood in Huntington West VA. The students are just thrilled to see Gloria walk into the classroom.
It’s all about the movies this week.
One of America’s favorite movie characters was introduced in the 1930’s, Steamboat Willie, better known today as Mickey Mouse.
Last week Gloria Leven, who was eight years old in 1931, told us all about the games she played as a child. We’ve asked her about the movies. She said that they went to the local movie house just about every weekend. “You could see 3 or 4 movies for a dime,” she said. “We went together without our parents.”
Gloria’s favorite movies were those featuring the dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. She went to see every musical, as she wanted to be a dancer.
This week’s timeline is 1931. It was the depression and times were hard for many people. Gloria was going to Meadow’s School, a small three room school house for grades 1-6. She lived in Huntington West Virginia. There was just one room for the class. Each row of kids was a different grade. There were about 30-40 kids in her school. The other two rooms at the school were used for bathrooms and a place for them to hang their coats.
Gloria described the gray clothing that the poorer children had to wear. The clothes were given to kids by a relief organization. “You knew who the poor one’s were.”
Historical Time Line 1931
Films: City Lights by Charles Chaplin; Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff; Monkey Business starring the Marx Brothers; and Dracula starring Bela Lugosi
Books: “The Good Earth” by Pearl Buck
Songs: The Peanut Vendor by Don Azpiazu; Goodnight Sweetheart by Guy Lumbardo; You Came to Me Out of Nowhere and Star Dust by Bing Crosby; Blue Again by Louis Armstrong
January: President Hoover’s Emergency Committee for Unemployment Relief claims 4 to 5 million unemployed
February 11: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison dies. He invented the phonograph (record player), the electric light bulb, and “kinetoscope” (motion pictures or movies). He also founded General Electric (GE).
March: President Hoover signs law that makes the “Star Spangled Banner” the national anthem.
• Scientist Ernest Goodpasture grows viruses in chicken eggs, making it possible to make vaccines against flu and other illnesses.
April: James Henigan of Medford, MA wins the 35th Boston Marathon in the time of 2:46:45
May: Fiberglass is introduced
• The Empire State Building, the world’s tallest building, dedicated in New York City
• Robert Frost wins a Pulitzer Prize for “Collected Poems.”
June: Wiley Post and Harold Gatty begin first single-plane, round the world flight. Takes 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes.
July: The Yellow River (Huang He/Hwang Ho) in China floods killing between 1- 4 million people. It is thought to be the worst natural disaster in history to date. The Yellow River is the second longest river in China (after the Yangtze River) and the sixth largest in the world.
August: Kansas farmers produce bumper crop of wheat
September: 827 banks close in the United States.
• Fist non stop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Saishiro, Japan to Wenatchee, WA, completed in 41 hours, 13 minutes.
• George Washington Bridge, linking New Jersey to Manhattan, opens
• St. Louis Cardinals (National League) defeat the Philadelphia Athletics (American League) to win 28th World Series.
October: Creation of the National Credit Corporation, a last-ditch attempt at relief of the Depression through voluntary business action.
November: Cimarron wins Academy Award for Best Picture, Lionel Barrymore Best Actor in A Free Soul; Marie Dressler as Best Actress in Min and Bill
December: Hundreds of "hunger marchers" are turned away from the White House after trying to petition for employment at a minimum wage
• President Hoover seeks the creation of an emergency reconstruction finance corporation to lend money to lending institutions to bolster industry; he recognizes the need for more public works to provide jobs
For more information about 1931, go to http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1931/1931fr.html
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